Clemson University is working to quicken the commercialization
of biomedical technologies through its participation in a regional
technology transfer accelerator hub recently funded by the National
Institute of General Medical Sciences.
In partnership with XLerate Health LLC, the health care technology
accelerator has been awarded $500,000 for the first year of a potential
three-year $3.5 million grant from the National Institute of General
Medical Sciences (NIGMS), a division of the National Institutes of
Health (NIH). It is based in Louisville, Kentucky and participants
include the University of Kentucky, University of Louisville and West
Virginia University; along with a consortium of 21 academic institutions,
including Clemson.
This new grant mechanism creates an online accelerator hub for
commercialization of biomedical technologies in the Southeast
Institution Development Award (IDeA) region, which includes Arkansas,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, South Carolina and West
Virginia. The IDeA program was established in 1993 to broaden the
geographic distribution of NIH funding.
This hub will be one of four NIGMS-funded hubs to help IDeA states
accelerate early-stage biomedical technology from the laboratory to
market. The goal is to enhance the capacity to move scientific results
from academic institutions into commercialization and to promote a
sustainable culture of biomedical entrepreneurship within IDeA states.
The Clemson University site leads on this grant are Tanju Karanfil,
vice president for research, and Chris Gesswein, executive director
of the Clemson University Research Foundation (CURF).
“We look forward to the opportunity to participate in this high
impact effort to provide a continuum of education and mentoring
resources to our faculty and graduate research community interested
in translating their respective research into commercial products
and service to the benefit of the public,” Karanfil said. “The virtual
hub model provides an efficient means to provide a diverse set of
commercialization resources to the innovation and entrepreneurial
ecosystem at Clemson University and the South Carolina Upstate
region.”
Said Gesswein: “We look forward to the opportunity to participate
in the development of this highly innovative technology transfer and
commercialization model. This program aligns well with CURF’s
focus on providing enhanced support services to the increasing
number of biomedical startups coming out of Clemson University.
The Southeast regional accelerator hub will serve as a platform for
biomedical researchers to gain access to a network of resources that
will help them successfully navigate the complexities of bringing
life science technologies and services to market.”
